Chapter 2
Alone
Tyler was still wondering who was on the phone, and why he wanted to talk to him at dinner that night. His mother sat before him, waiting for her friends to pick her up. Tonight she was going out. She wouldn't tell Tyler where, for she knew he could tell the police.
"Come on Rosa, we don't have all night!" yelled Greta, Rosa's best friend.
Rosa walked right past her son and out the door. "Bye bye, Mother," he whispered. He was glad she was going out with her friends. That way, he could watch whatever he wanted to on T.V.
Tyler watched out the window as his mother rode away in a fancy red convertible with her friends laughing wildly. Tyler never did understand her friends, nor did he ever want to.
"I guess I'll watch some Spongebob," he decided sitting on the couch proudly.
Spongebob appeared on the screen, going to work. He seemed to be so happy in his strange sea world. He then entered work happy to see Squidward and Mr. Krabbs.
"Wish I were that happy," Tyler sighed. Tyler's blue eyes followed Spongebob, as he ran around the screen.
After the show, Tyler lurked around the house, looking for anything interesting. Maybe I could find out who called this morning, he thought.
He searched all around, nothing interesting. Mom's the most boring person in the world, he said inside his head.
He decided maybe to see if it showed up on the phone who called. He picked up the phone laying on there on the kitchen counter. There was something that said, "Privet Caller." There was no number listed.
Hours had now gone by, and Rosa was not home. She usually came home by midnight, but it was now two in the morning. Tyler was already in his pajamas and laying in bed. "I wonder if she's okay," he wondered. "Maybe she got in a car accident."
Tyler felt the earth under him shake, as he heard people next door screaming for help. He knew it was an earthquake. Earthquakes were not common in Pennsylvania, but it made no difference. He was so scared, he thought he may die of fright.
Suddenly, he heard the door slam shut, and his mother's stomping. "Slug, I'm home!" she barked going to her bedroom. She seemed drunk, and she wasn't afraid of the earthquake "Eyes gonna be goin' to bed 'bout now, Sally," she said. She was definitely drunk.
Tyler rolled his eyes through his panic. What a dumbbell, he thought to himself. The earth shook once more, knocking a picture of one of his relatives off his bedroom wall. It almost hit Tyler's noggin, but missed him by a centimeter.
Then, his mother went into his room, her mind still wacko. "Ya's was 'fraid of the earthquakers!" she laughed pulling the covers off him.
Tyler eyes grew wide with fear. "Whatcha doin'?" he asked her timidly.
"Huh?" she asked revealing her smelly beer breath.
"Why are you taking the covers off me?" he repeated, only simplifying it.
"Ya need a beating," she told him picking him up. She then threw him back in bed and lumbered off to her own room. "That oughta teach him."
"Thank you Lord," he prayed. "Thank you so very much."